The bottom line: Can anyone suggest ways to decrease the stress of administering meds?
The background: Poor Ziv has a weepy eye. We tried to treat it with eye drops for a while, but last week the discharge changed from clear to dark and his eyelid was a little puffy and red, so we took him to our vet (who I really like, btw).
Anyway, the vet prescribed oral antiobiotics (pills) 2 times per day and eye ointment in both eyes 4 times per day for 2 weeks--but we weren't sure if this was going to work. It's been about a week, and though the color in the discharge has gone away, Ziv still looks very uncomfortable (he squints a lot) and his eye is still tearing.
Here's the problem: When we had to give Ziv antibiotics for a URI when we first got them, he took the pills almost happily. I guess they tasted ok. But the pills he has now obviously taste bad to him. He also was ok with the eye drops originally, but the eye ointment makes him uncomfortable. Now, he won't let me or my boyfriend pet him more than once or twice before he takes off--seemingly in fear that we're going to force some more meds on him. He just seems a little stressed out in general by us (though he plays with the other cats pretty well).
If I knew that these meds were going to completely cure his eye, I think I would just grin and bear it, but though there's been some improvement, it doesn't seem like enough at this point. I'm going to see if it's possible to exchange the rest of the pills for a liquid antiobiotic, but other than that, I don't know what to do. Ziv is the least cuddly of our three cats, but he still (used to) like being petted for longer periods.
Ziv was pretty stoic at first, but I think he just can't tolerate any more. One thought I had is to not pet him when we give him his meds--just do it gently but firmly--so that he doesn't associate petting with getting the meds. We try to administer them when he seems most relaxed, but that's not always possible because of how frequently he needs to get them. We've tried putting the pill inside a moist treat, which worked for a bit, but now he eats around it--and he's even starting to refuse his favorite treats! This morning he bit my boyfriend when he tried to give him the pill (not hard, no broken skin, he was just trying to get away). Any advice or similar stories would be helpful.
The background: Poor Ziv has a weepy eye. We tried to treat it with eye drops for a while, but last week the discharge changed from clear to dark and his eyelid was a little puffy and red, so we took him to our vet (who I really like, btw).
Anyway, the vet prescribed oral antiobiotics (pills) 2 times per day and eye ointment in both eyes 4 times per day for 2 weeks--but we weren't sure if this was going to work. It's been about a week, and though the color in the discharge has gone away, Ziv still looks very uncomfortable (he squints a lot) and his eye is still tearing.
Here's the problem: When we had to give Ziv antibiotics for a URI when we first got them, he took the pills almost happily. I guess they tasted ok. But the pills he has now obviously taste bad to him. He also was ok with the eye drops originally, but the eye ointment makes him uncomfortable. Now, he won't let me or my boyfriend pet him more than once or twice before he takes off--seemingly in fear that we're going to force some more meds on him. He just seems a little stressed out in general by us (though he plays with the other cats pretty well).
If I knew that these meds were going to completely cure his eye, I think I would just grin and bear it, but though there's been some improvement, it doesn't seem like enough at this point. I'm going to see if it's possible to exchange the rest of the pills for a liquid antiobiotic, but other than that, I don't know what to do. Ziv is the least cuddly of our three cats, but he still (used to) like being petted for longer periods.
Ziv was pretty stoic at first, but I think he just can't tolerate any more. One thought I had is to not pet him when we give him his meds--just do it gently but firmly--so that he doesn't associate petting with getting the meds. We try to administer them when he seems most relaxed, but that's not always possible because of how frequently he needs to get them. We've tried putting the pill inside a moist treat, which worked for a bit, but now he eats around it--and he's even starting to refuse his favorite treats! This morning he bit my boyfriend when he tried to give him the pill (not hard, no broken skin, he was just trying to get away). Any advice or similar stories would be helpful.